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Saturday, December 6, 2014

Open Heavens Devotional for Saturday December 6, 2014: HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS

TOPIC: HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS

Memorise: For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Job 14:7Read: 2 Kings 4:1-74:1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 4:2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 4:3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4:4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. 4:5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 4:6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 4:7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

MESSAGE If you are a student of the Bible, you would have discovered through divine inspiration that the presence of God in any situation causes a turnaround of that situation with positive results. For example, when God comes into the situation of a debtor, the debtor can become a lender to nations and a poor widow could become the richest person in her community. There is a beautiful story in the Bible reading of today, which illustrates the fact that the poorest can become the richest and that an outcast can become a celebrity. When you have an encounter with God, and you carry out the divine instructions given to you at the instance of that encounter, your story would become a reference point that people would use in pointing out the wonders of God. A widow who had lost every hope had an encounter with God when she came across Elisha the prophet. She got a miracle which altered the course of her life’s history.

“Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.”2 Kings 4:1 There are certain lessons to be learnt from the story of this widow such as the fact that she desperately cried for help. From this, we see that for any hopeless fellow to receive help from the “Present Help in the time of need” (Psalm 46:1), he or she needs to cry to Him. God is eager to intervene in the affairs of those who will cry to him for help. The Bible in Jeremiah 29:13 says:“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Those who seek God with all their heart will find him. As long as you decide to manage your situation or remain at your present level and condition, the cry of your prayer will be far from being desperate. But when you are really tired of your situation like this widow, you will cry out to God desperately. The Bible did not say the widow had a chat with Elisha, but that she cried unto Him because she was in desperate need of a miracle. Also, we are not told that the widow murmured before Elisha, but that she cried. The widow did not grumble to attract the attention of the prophet of God; she cried out for divine intervention. The widow got attention and her problem was permanently solved. God is going to answer your cry today and you will sing a new song of victory, super-abundance, peace and joy unspeakable in Jesus’ Name.

Action Point: Cry unto God and tell Him where your “shoes hurt” and He will grant you permanent relief.BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 CHRONICLES 35-36; ECCLESIASTES 5: 1-9

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Akinrinwa Akinbowale is a blogger, infopreneur, blog/web designer, researcher and an online tutor. He lives in Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria with his family. You can reach him on akinsquared2000@yahoo.com or call +2348035661205.